Thursday, November 8, 2012

Do you NUCCA?

The past few weeks have been another roller coaster of ups and downs. They have been physically and emotionally exhausting, filled with fatigue and some down right scary moments one of which almost sent me to the hospital. In the end though, they have been filled with hope and I feel like things may be finally turning around.

I can honestly say that the decision to change my diet ( really our diet as a family) and begin exercising again have been very important decisions on this path to getting better. Although I really wish I would have made those changes long ago there is no reason to dwell on the past. I didn't believe I could really alter my craving for junk but it has happened. I do green smoothies, juice and eat a lot of cooked vegetable almost daily. Most of which are organic. For me juicing and cooking my vegetables makes them much easier for my body to get nutrients out of. It has been so taxed that digesting raw food can take too much work. I have gone almost gluten free and have reduced grains as a whole by close to 75%. I try and eat sprouted grains instead. I have reduced dairy by 50 to 75% and most of what I do consume is RAW milk dairy. I definitely don't feel good when I eat the junk or the gluten. Sweet things usually taste to sweet now and I actually crave vegetables. Who knew.

I can see some improvements in my body from just the 5 or 6 weeks I worked out with my trainer. It is a somewhat difficult transition trying to workout with out him but I'm doing it. The things he taught me about functional exercises just make so much sense and seem to resonate well with my body so I look forward to seeing how strong I get over the next few months. I will never view exercise the same again. These changes with diet and exercise are definitely changes that I will stick with for the rest of my life.

I have had some blood work run recently to try and figure out some of the missing pieces to the puzzle. As has happened so often before the test results come back normal. I know it may sound weird but it is really frustrating at first. You get tired of hearing that "they" don't see anything wrong when you know full well something is not right. This time it was regarding my adrenal glands and hormones. What I had forgotten though is the tests that were done were really basic and not the most reliable tests. In fact I am starting to rely less and less on what the blood work says. Just because the blood work comes back normal does not mean things are functioning as they should be.

I feel like I've been at a crossroads with treatment for quite some time. I was hoping that the blood tests were going to point us in a certain direction but that didn't happened. I weighed my options and decided that I would try a local chiropractor that I had heard some great things about. I had been to chiropractors before, in fact the doctors from Hansa are both D.C.'s. This doctor though uses NUCCA and that was something I had not tried. It was perfect timing too because anther Lyme patient was inquiring about NUCCA and I heard a couple stories of people benefiting from it. Besides being local, the office also had a payment plan that worked for us. Really I barely have the funds to continue with my accupuncture so I needed something I could afford. What has happened over the past two weeks of seeing Dr. S has been huge and given me such hope that I am on the right track.

NUCCA stands for the National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Assocation. Without going into to much detail because I would probably screw it up, NUCCA involves adjusting the very upper cervical spine area with minor pressure. It is not the typical snap, crack, pop visit and it focuses on an area that no one has ever dealt with. My first visit was a sit down with the doc to go over my history, my complaints, concerns, and few minor tests and x-rays. After that the doctor let me know that he thought he could help me. As much as he wanted to start working on me right away he knew it was important to review everything first. I scheduled a followup for the next day. The second appointment the doctor said confirmed that he really felt he could me. He said in addition to the NUCCA he would be doing bio-cranial work as well. He laid out a treatment plan and we agreed I would see him twice a week for 6 weeks and then once a week for 6 weeks. After that we will figure out how often I may need to see him. He did say I am a very complex case but he likes a challenge. What a surprise. We jumped right in with the first adjustment which only took a matter of minutes. He finished with a couple more followup x-rays. As much as I don't like to have the x-rays they ensure that he is right on with his adjustment. During these first two visits the doctor explained a little bit about how NUCCA works. Basically when things in the upper cervical area get out of alignment it causes problems with the information going to my brain. Bad information going in, means bad information coming back out to my body. I'm very twisted and have a lot of misalignment. The doctor almost laughed and just said no wonder you are tired all of the time. You are so twisted that your body is fighting against it self, against the muscles to try and put you back into alignment. It really was making sense. At then end of my session I was put on the MRS mat. I won't go into that right now but you can look it up. Its magnetic therapy that helps with pain and all sorts of things by kind of acting like a whole body battery charger. A lot of people with Lyme use them and so I am excited to have the chance to use on regularly for a while. I have found that I am very sensitive them which is normal in my condition so I can't do to much time on the mat.

My next visit started off with some muscle testing and energy work. The first thing he says is that my adrenal glands are definitely weak and not functioning as they should. My blood work said my adrenal glands were find which I know in my heart was almost impossible due to how long I had been sick and everything I had dealt with. Next he picked up the fact that I had a virus in my intestine. He worked his energy medicine and put me on a herbal adrenal gland remedy. I'm almost in tears at this point and he was so excited he was almost jumping up and down. He said he could just see things unfolding for me and that we were really gonna get some where. Hope. Dr. Spinato gave me hope. Everything he said made so much sense. It also matched up with what Hansa told me in January. Adrenals and viruses were my two biggest issues. Two different doctors, in two different parts of the world, not knowing what each other said and using slightly different energetic testing methods came up with the same answers. So cool. We did the bio cranial therapy next which is like a big stretch in the neck and upper cervical spine to again help open up the communication to/from the brain. I jumped on the mat and was out the door. With in 45 minutes of my appointment I started getting sick to my stomach. I was "sick" to my stomach the rest of the day and the next. In addition I had a really bad episode of dizziness, heart, just feeling really bad and weird to where I considered the ER. I had been here before though and knew the ER wouldn't help. Anyways I figured I must be having a healing crisis. This is a little different in that herx I have talked about before. This is because my body is kicking in a fixing things instead of a die off of bacteria. I didn't enjoy it by any means but took it as a positive sign. The following appointment the doctor agreed with my thoughts that it was a healing crisis. He was glad I knew enough to just push on. So I have continued to have some healing crisis this week but am taking it as a positive sign.

Here a quick glimpse of what my treatment involves right now. I'm on 4 different antibiotics, a number of supplements (vit d, Co-Q 10, magnesium, adrenals, etc...), silver, acupuncture every other week, NUCCA, sauna daily if possible. I still have my chest port but don't use it right now. My plan is to do the antibiotics for about 3 more months and then be done with them for good. My goal is stick with natural herbal remedies and alternative therapies from then on out and for my family as well. I can't tell you how much I believe in energy medicine. I will never view medicine the same again. I will be taking my girls to Dr. Spinato soon and look forward to how he can help them. I will be using alternative medicine and therapies for the rest of mine and my families life. I am happy to share anything I can with you about it and highly encourage you to look into these options. They may just change your life. I can't wait to keep you updated on my journey over the next few weeks as Dr. S works his magic. Feeling truly blessed and I like I am on the right path to getting well.

About Me

I am a 39 year old wife and mother of two beautiful daughters who lost her career in the fire service due to Lyme Disease. I love my God and Savior, spending time with family, the beach and photography. I have been on a journey to get well since 2010. Now while still fighting my own health battles I am having to fight for my kids health too. Growing in my faith and strength each day.